There's Always Hope For Christmas
by Midnight's Violet Haze
Summary: Caroling, hot chocolate and family; everything that makes Christmas amazing...unless you're Sasuke Uchiha, that is. But maybe a new friend, aquired under a table some months ago, can help him see the light? :Second of the Happy Holidays Series: Modern AU R&R Please


**There's Still Hope For Christmas, and there's still hope that I'll actually publish the second part to my :Happy Holidays Series: It's only a half-hour late.**

**Also, for anyone under the impression that I skipped out on Thanksgiving; I'm Canadian, therefore Thanksgiving happened before I started this series, therefore, it will come, so no worries.**

**Sorry about this fic, it was a vague idea in my head that turned into this. The story hops around all over the place and the plot is hiding somewhere behind a giant inflatable Santa balloon, but let's hope it doesn't ruin your holidays.**

**Discaimer: Naruto, the below-mentioned carols and Christmas in general do not belong to me. I'm not the grinch and I ain't stealing anything. Just borrowing.**

**Might wanna knock back a few chocolate Baileys (also not mine) 'cuz here it goes..**

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There's Still Hope For Christmas

"…_Slee –p in hea-venly pea –ce…"_

Sasuke heaved a sigh of relief, glad that the singing had finally stopped, only to groan when it started up again, this time with a more upbeat tune.

"_Rudolph the red nosed reindeer…"_

He was currently in Konoha's town centre looking completely out of place among the happy citizens and the cheerful festivities and though he hated anything _joyful _or anything that, Kami forbid, induced warm, _fuzzy_ feelings, he had, believe it or not, come here of his own accord. Truth be told, though he couldn't stand the cold, candy canes, hot chocolate and especially the carolers, Sasuke was willing to put up with it if it meant delaying the time he'd have to go back to the drab and, more importantly, _empty_ Uchiha mansion.

Skulking around in the crowd, just killing time, Sasuke spied a flash of navy coloured hair that made him pause. _'What are the chances? It's probably not her…'_ Still, his eyes continued to seek out blue and his feet started to follow almost automatically. There standing in the crowd was Hinata Hyuuga and though her fluffy coat and hat were a far cry from her Halloween costume (he really _missed_ those cat ears), she looked adorable as ever. A smirk tugged at his lips at the thought of Halloween, or more specifically the Halloween Dance at their high school, where he had really, truly met Hinata (though to be honest, he could only clearly remember their conversation under the table, everything after that being a little fuzzy). Sure they had already known each other, there being only nine students in their year, and they had been going to school together since kindergarten, but being the antisocial person he is, he'd never really bothered to talk to her until that night, and too bad he hadn't. In the months since the dance, Sasuke and Hinata had begun to…_hang out_ at school.

'_Well, we talk sometimes in class…and when we see each other in the halls we always greet each other but…would we be called friends? Or just acquaintances? Am I just another classmate to her? Just someone she knows? Ugh, why does it have to be so confusing?'_

It was safe to say that Sasuke wanted to be…_friends_ with Hinata, but he wasn't really sure how to go about it. Despite the small size of their school they somehow managed to run in completely different social circles and inserting himself into her life would be difficult, not to mention it would be sure to raise a few eyebrows.

'_If I so much as ask someone for a pencil it's all around the school in a matter of minutes, imagine what would happen if people saw me going out of my way to be near Hinata. She'd probably be completely uncomfortable with the gossip and it'd be embarrassing for me too, even though I'm used to it by now.'_

Plus her friends could be potential problems, with the over protective trio, a weird bowl-haired martial arts expert and that bun-haired girl rumored to be an aichmomaniac (1). His own 'friends' would be useless, though Naruto did seem to know just about everyone and he had seen them talk once or twice.

'_Well it's not like I need help. I'm an Uchiha; people would sell their own grandmothers just to be associated with me…'_

And with that charming 'pep-talk', Sasuke decided to stop standing awkwardly in the crowd and make his way over to her.

Hiding a grimace at the fact that Hinata seemed to be positively _enthralled_ by the caroling service and that to talk to her, he would have to go even closer to the wretched, nails-on-a-chalkboard bad, voices, Sasuke stepped up beside her, lightly brushing his shoulder against hers.

Flinching in a startled manner, Hinata turned her wide lavender eyes on Sasuke and, to his inner pleasure, relaxed immediately.

"A-Ah, U-Uchiha-kun!" she gasped, flashing him a smile, "D-Did you c-come to see the c-carolers t-too?"

Sasuke only _just_ managed to keep a frown from sliding onto his face. Instead, he shrugged, "Something like that…"

"I-I came for my l-little s-sister. D-Do you remember h-how in elementary school w-we used t-to have to s-sing w-with our grade every y-year?" She said, smiling fondly on the memories.

This time Sasuke couldn't fight back the frown, "Yeah, glad that's over."

Hinata shot him a look, eyes dancing with laughter. "I-I take it U-Uchiha-kun d-doesn't like t-to sing?"

"What was your first guess?" He could see amusement light up her eyes again and felt a bit of pride at being the one to put it there.

"I thought i-it was a nice idea, b-but I-I'm not m-much of a s-singer either." Sasuke was surprised at this; he'd always thought she'd be great at singing with how sweet her voice sounded when speaking, in spite of the stutter.

"Hn," he grunted because, obviously, he wasn't going to tell her _that_.

Hinata didn't look discouraged by this minimal response, continuing to say, "I always f-felt sorry for I-Iruka-sensei, though, h-having to d-deal w-with Kiba-kun a-and Naruto-kun…"

Looking at her actually taking the initiative in their conversation and only stumbling a few times, Sasuke felt pleased with the progress he'd made. But still, could they be considered friends…?

And another point that needed further investigating: "Naruto-_kun_? I didn't know you were that close with Naruto," he said, cutting right through her sentence.

'_I get Uchiha-kun and he get's Naruto-kun? On what planet is that fair?'_

It looked like he'd completely knocked Hinata off balance, seeing as she stuttered her sentence into oblivion and then proceeded to fumble with her fingers in an odd (_'but cute..'_) way that he'd never seen before. Hinata also seemed to notice it was strange, for she immediately separated her hands and moved them behind her back, blushing a bright red.

"A-Ano, h-he…N-Naruto-kun, h-he r-really helped m-me out, b-back in e-elementary school," she stuttered out, pausing and taking a deep breath, seeming to calm down. She picked her head up then, locking determined eyes with his own "N-Naruto-kun is a very precious friend of mine," she announced in a tone that seemed to end the conversation there.

The two shifted in silence for a moment, jovial Christmas carols filling the space in between them while Sasuke mentally stored this new piece of information in his _'Things That I Need to Beat Out of the Dobe'_ folder.

Feeling inexplicably put out, Sasuke broke the silence refusing to let _Naruto_ ruin his first time outside of school with Hinata.

"The fifth grade is up now," he said, pointing up at the stage set up in the middle of the town centre, beside an obscenely large Christmas tree, "How old is your sister?"

Hinata blinked, quickly turning to the stage, "She's eleven, so that must be her." "Hanabi-chan!" she called out in a voice much too soft to ever make it to the stage. Still, by what seemed to be the magic of sisterhood, a brown haired girl with familiar light eyes turned and waved back to Hinata, grinning.

"I'm glad she looks happy," Hinata told him, still watching the stage, "She w-was also n-not exactly excited a-about the m-mandatory c-caroling…"

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but shut it when the music started up.

"_Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad…"_

Glancing at Hinata out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke doubted she would have answered to anything he'd said. The way her eyes were glued to her sister the entire time and she managed to keep that glowing look on her face despite the butchered Spanish; he was certain she'd have been offended if he'd done anything to distract her from her sister's performance.

The song ended mercifully quickly, probably because Sasuke had something more interesting to focus on this time around, and pretty soon the fifth grade class was running off the stage with what looked like an annoyed Iruka being ignored behind them.

The people around them started to chatter again, but Sasuke held his silence watching as Hinata's sparkling eyes looked beyond the crowd. Suddenly she held out her arms just in time to catch the flying eleven-year-old as she pounced on her older sister.

"H-Hanabi-chan," she admonished, the breathy quality of her voice hardly sounding stern enough to be taken seriously by the younger girl.

"Right, right, sorry Nee-chan," the girl, Hanabi, said in a voice that suggested she was not sorry at all. "That was so embarrassing!" she continued, "I can't believe you made me come to this. Why couldn't you just phone in sick for me?"

Hinata put her sister down, catching her breath. "T-That's not a-a very Christmas-y thing t-to do, Hanabi-chan. Santa would be mad if you a-abandoned y-your c-classmates and teacher s-so you could stay home a-and play video games."

Sasuke snorted, but fortunately it was lost in the noise the crowd was making. He wanted to ask if Hinata's sister wasn't a little too old to still believe in Santa Clause, but generously decided to stay out of this family discussion. _'Wow, even I can't believe how nice I become when I'm around Hinata…'_

Eyeing her sister with the suspicion of a child bordering on the age when they're too old for fairytales and fictional holiday characters, Hanabi finally gave a minute nod. "I guess you're right. But Santa wouldn't mind if I teased Konohamaru a bit, would he? Did you hear the way his voice cracked in the middle of the song? It was hilarious!"

Hinata tried to control her boisterous sister in a flustered manner, but gave up in the end. As Hanabi ran off with obvious mischievous intentions, Hinata could only call out weakly after her, "J-Just remember t-to meet m-me a-at the T-Tree in an hour!"

Watching the little scene between the siblings, Sasuke felt a pang of sadness hit him. He looked at Hinata with respect and some admiration, _'That's how an older sibling is supposed to act. Not like…' _Shaking it off, Sasuke finally got tired of being ignored and decided to make his presence known again.

"Loud kid, I can definitely see the family resemblance," he said sarcastically.

Hinata turned back to him and smiled, shrugging her shoulders in a helpless way. "I know w-we're pretty different, Hanabi-chan a-and I. It seems she g-got all the energy…"

"So I guess you inherited all the calm?" he said with a smirk, "It's a good thing. I definitely prefer peaceful and quiet to energetic and loud."

Hinata seemed surprised by the compliment, a pale pink flush highlighting her soft cheeks. "That's u-unexpected…" she commented. At Sasuke's confused look she explained, "W-well, y-your closest friends are Naruto-kun and S-Sakura-san…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "It's not like it was my choice. They're not very easy to get rid of, so I ended up just putting up with them for all these years." She simple nodded at this.

Feeling a little nervous, he shuffled his feet and braved the question, "So you have an hour to kill? I mean you told your little sister you'd meet her in an hour so…did you already have plans here?" He cursed at the warmth that filled his cheeks and blamed it on the cold temperatures.

Almost as if it was contagious, warmth invaded Hinata's own cheeks at seeing Sasuke's slight blush. "U-Um, I was g-going to go f-find Neji-nii-san, but he's with Tenten-chan a-and I'd h-hate t-to bother them…"

Frowning, Sasuke told her in a no-arguments sort of voice, "I'm sure it wouldn't bother them to spend time with you. But I…I'd really like to spend more time with you…maybe we could get some hot chocolate?"

"Sure," Hinata agreed quickly, a shy smile lighting her face. "But I didn't think of Uchiha-kun as a person that l-liked h-hot chocolate...I think I-I heard S-Sakura-san once m-mention that y-you disliked sweets…"

'_I hate them. I have absolutely no idea why I suggested we get any; I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.' _Outwardly Sasuke simple shrugged. "It's better than freezing our asses off," he said, cool persona snapping into place to cover up his slip-up.

He started walking towards the only café in Konoha's town centre without another word, feeling relieved when Hinata followed wordlessly as well. A few minutes later, after recovering from his nervous action, Sasuke spoke up again. "You know," he started casually, "When you mentioned Hyuuga…I felt like there was something I should remember about him. Not necessarily anything important, but more like something interesting that you would automatically associate with that guy…and coats?"

He noted, curiously, that Hinata seemed to turn the reddest shade that he could recall. "A-Ah, we're here a-already! Let's g-get in q-quickly, I-I'm c-cold," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the café. Slightly disconcerted at her unusual behavior, Sasuke's mind emptied of all thought at the feel of her hand in his.

When they sat down at a table by the window and finished ordering their drinks, Sasuke couldn't help but smile at the fact that Hinata had forgotten to let go.

But then their drinks arrived and she took back her hand to pick up the mug with both hands. Sasuke hid his pout behind his own mug, though he didn't dare take a sip of the sickly sweet beverage.

Putting her mug down after taking a huge gulp that warmed her all the way down to her toes, Hinata tugged off her hat, placing it on the table. "Nee, Uchiha-kun," she intoned questioningly, "You d-didn't seem to like the c-carols t-too much…"

Sasuke couldn't say anything to this, because it was the truth.

Taking his silence as a cue to continue, Hinata asked, "S-So why d-did y-you decide to spend y-your Christmas Eve h-here, if y-you didn't really enjoy it? Such a happy holiday…it should b-be spent d-doing things that _make_ you h-happy."

Sasuke could see her love for the holiday and had to avert his eyes, choosing to look out the window. Unconsciously scowling at the falling snow, he pursed his lips.

Licking her lips nervously at the withdrawn, angry face on Sasuke, Hinata tried to amend any offense she may have made. "I-I'm sorry, I-I w-was prying, wasn't I-I? P-Please f-forgive me, y-you d-don't have to answer. S-Sorry, I j-just-"

"It's fine," he said emotionlessly, ending her clumsy apology.

"B-But.." _But it's not…_

Hinata looked on helplessly as Sasuke closed himself off to her. She had thought he was always rather distanced from everyone, but in comparison to this, the way he had been acting with her a few moments ago was very open. Realizing she'd already stuck her foot in her mouth, Hinata decided that it couldn't get much worse after this, so she might as well go all out.

Hesitantly she reached for his hand and covered it with her own. Encouraged that though he stiffened, he didn't remove himself from her grasp, Hinata gathered all her courage. "I-I know about your p-parents, I-I mean, e-everyone d-does…" she winced at her rough start, but persevered, "St-Still, I thought that m-maybe you w-would have r-rather spend t-time with y-your friends or I r-remember y-you h-had a b-brother…" Hinata bit her lip and mentally slapped herself when she felt Sasuke's had curl into a fist under her own.

"A-Ano, e-etto…I just…I-I know it's n-not a-any of m-my b-business, but s-seeing y-you here a-alone on Christmas E-Eve…I-I didn't like it…I was worried a-about you..." Hinata said, trailing off and losing hope.

But then, slowly, Sasuke turned towards her and his hand relaxed a little. "You were worried? About me?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I was," Hinata assured him, "Uchiha-kun…Uchiha-kun is m-my friend, so I want h-him to be happy…"

Sasuke ducked his head down, unable to stop the inconvenient rush of blood. "I didn't want to go home," he admitted. "Mother used to love Christmas, she'd decorate the entire house and would bake cookies…compared to back then, the house is so gloomy and I can't stand it."

Hinata's eyes softened sympathetically, remembering her own mother's death.

Sasuke knew this because much like everyone knew about his own family's tragedy, they also knew about Hinata's issues. He didn't usually pay attention to gossip, but of course the death of the Hyuuga matriarch had been in the papers and even at a young age, Sasuke had been an avid Newspaper reader.

'_This is why I don't mind telling her. Because unlike everyone else that's always complaining about how strict their parents are or how annoying their siblings are, Hinata…she was someone that actually appreciated family, that understood how important they were.'_

"And Itachi," he scoffed, "I haven't heard a word from him since he went off to Akatsuki U. Actually he stopped caring about me since our parents died. He-"

"I don't believe that!" Hinata exclaimed, grasping his hand tightly. "I-I remember, wh-when we were y-younger a-and your brother, he w-would drop you o-off every morning a-and pick y-you up every day after school. A-And he w-was always s-so patient, e-even when y-you would p-pull his hair and j-jump on h-him…"

Sasuke was dumbfounded, "You remember all that? I didn't know you ever paid attention to me back then…"

Hinata blushed, moving to take her hand back, but Sasuke stopped her. "W-Well, to b-be honest, I-I was a bit envious, b-back then, o-of y-you and your b-brother, since that w-was when Nii-san a-and I weren't that c-close…"

Suddenly hopping up, she pulled her hat back on, "A-Anyway, I-I think I should st-start heading back t-to meet Hanabi-chan at the T-Tree. She'll b-be upset if she g-get's there a-and I'm not w-waiting."

"I'll walk you back," Sasuke offered hurriedly, but she looked almost horrified at the suggestion.

"N-NO! It's f-fine. I-I'll see you a-at…I'll see you," she said, stopping at the café entrance. She didn't turn around, but she stalled for a moment, finally saying, "I-I w-wish I could stay l-longer, Uchiha-kun, b-but for Christmas, I-I need to b-be with my f-family. They're e-expecting me and I-I'd n-never let them d-down…because that's what older s-siblings do. E-Even if it's not always clear, older s-siblings l-look out for the y-younger ones, always. I l-learned that f-from Neji-nii-san."

She turned her head to look back at him over her shoulder and shot him one last smile. "S-So, speaking as a-an older s-sibling, don't g-give up on h-him y-yet."

And then she was gone, disappearing out the door and into the snow, leaving a stunned Sasuke in her wake.

'_That went well…'_

Definitely not up for a few more hours of doing nothing, Sasuke reluctantly walked home. _'I wanted to be her friend and now I know I am for sure, but how dare she say those things to me? Even if she paid attention at school, that doesn't mean she knows Itachi at all. She thinks he's all caring and whatever, but he's not. He-'_

Sasuke froze, gazing up dazedly at his lit up house.

'_What? I didn't put any Christmas lights up…'_

He picked up the pace, running for the door.

'_It couldn't be…'_

Memories flashed before his eyes, of a time when his house always looked like this at this time of year.

'_He hasn't been back in years…'_

He grasped the brass handles and pushed, noting that the door was unlocked, which was definitely not how he left it.

'_It's unlikely and stupid but I…'_

Sasuke took a deep breath and flung the door open.

'_I still feel hopeful, even after all these years I'm foolish enough to hope that…'_

He inhaled sharply, shocked. "I-Itachi…"

'_He came…'_

"Merry Christmas, Otouto. I'm home,"

Sasuke fell to his knees, hands holding his face as his entire frame shook.

"Otouto…?"

Sasuke shot up, glowering. He sped forward, aiming a kick at his older brother.

"ANIKI YOU BASTARD!"

'_Welcome home'_

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**Ah, what a heart-warming scene I leave you with. Hope it was worth you're time. ****Sorry if it got a little cheesy near the end and sorry for the awful-ness in general, I did write this in one day between random and very long intervals of time.**

**Anyways, hope it's not too late to say Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, if Christmas isn't your thing). **

**With Good Tidings, **

**Midnight's Violet Haze**

**HS**


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